Category: tableau

Tableau – Context Filters ”; Previous Next The normal filters in Tableau are independent of each other. It means each of the filter reads all the rows from the source data and creates its own result. However, there may be scenarios where you might want the second filter to process only the records returned by the first filter. In such a case, the second filter is known as dependent filters because they process only the data that passes through the context filter. Context Filters serve two main purposes. Improves performance − If you set a lot of filters or have a large data source, the queries can be slow. You can set one or more context filters to improve the performance. Creates a dependent numerical or top N filter − You can set a context filter to include only the data of interest, and then set a numerical or a top N filter. Creating Context Filter Using the Sample-superstore, find the top 10 Sub-Category of products for the category called Furniture. To achieve this objective, following are the steps. Step 1 − Drag the dimension Sub-Category to the Rows shelf and the measure Sales to the Columns Shelf. Choose the horizontal bar chart as the chart type. Drag the dimension Sub-Category again to the Filters shelf. You will get the following chart. Step 2 − Right-click on the field Sub-Category in the filter shelf and go the fourth tab named Top. Choose the option by field. From the next drop-down, choose the option Top 10 by Sales Sum as shown in the following screenshot. Step 3 − Drag the dimension Category to the filter shelf. Right-click to edit and under the general tab choose Furniture from the list. As you can see the result shows three subcategory of products. Step 4 − Right-click the Category: Furniture filter and select the option Add to Context. This produces the final result, which shows the subcategory of products from the category Furniture which are among the top 10 subcategories across all the products. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Motion Charts ”; Previous Next Motion charts show data using the X and Y-axes, displaying changes over time by showing the movement of data points within the defined space as well as changes in the color of the lines. The main advantage of motion chart is to view the entire trail of how the data has changed over time and not just a snapshot of the data. Tableau needs one Time Dimension and one Measure to create a Motion chart. Creating a Motion Chart Using the Sample-superstore, plan to find the variation of Profits over the months. To achieve this objective, following are the steps. Step 1 − Drag the Dimension Order Date to the Columns Shelf. Drag it again to the Pages Shelf. In the Pages shelf, right-click on the Order Date and choose Month. Then drag the measure Profit to the Rows Shelf. The following chart appears. Step 2 − Put a check mark on the box next to Show History and then click on the dropdown arrow next to it. For “Marks to Show History For” select “All”. Then under “Show”, select “Both”. Selecting “Marks” shows only the points and selecting “Trails” shows only the line. Click the Play button. The following chart appears. Step 3 − Allowing the chart to run from January to December will create the chart which shows how the profits have varied over each month for all the years. Note that as the data changes the recent months get a darker shade of color and the historical data gets a lighter shade of color. Finally, you will get the following chart. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Questions and Answers ”; Previous Next Dear readers, these Tableau Interview Questions have been designed specially to get you acquainted with the nature of questions you may encounter during your interview for the subject of SAS programming. As per my experience good interviewers hardly plan to ask any particular question during your interview, normally questions start with some basic concept of the subject and later they continue based on further discussion and what you answer − what is Tableau? Tableau is a business intelligence software that allows anyone to connect to respective data, and then visualize and create interactive, sharable dashboards. What is a data Source page? A page where you can set up your data source. The Data Source page generally consists of four main areas: left pane, join area, preview area, and metadata area. what is a extract is Tableau? A saved subset of a data source that you can use to improve performance and analyze offline. what is a format pane in Tableau? A pane that contains formatting settings that control the entire worksheet, as well as individual fields in the view. What is LOD expression in Tableau? A syntax that supports aggregation at dimensionalities other than the view level. With level of detail expressions, you can attach one or more dimensions to any aggregate expression. What is the difference between Quick Filter and Normal filter? Normal Filter is used to restrict the data from database based on selected dimension or measure. But Quick Filters are used to give a chance to user for dynamically changing data members at run time. What is Tableau Reader? Tableau Reader is a free viewing application that lets anyone read and interact with packaged workbooks created by Tableau Desktop. Can we have multiple value selection in parameter? No Which join i sused in data blending? There won”t be any joins as such but we will just give the column references like primary and foreign key relation. What are the possible reasons for slow performance in Tableau? More Extracts, filters and depends on data sources. What is the criteria to blend the data from multiple data sources.? There should be a common dimension to blend the data source into single worksheet. What is a Dimension? Tableau treats any field containing qualitative, categorical information as a dimension. This includes any field with text or dates values. What is a Measure? A measure is a field that is a dependent on value of one or more dimensions. Tableau treats any field containing numeric (quantitative) information as a measure. What does the extension .twbx represent in Tableau? It is a file which represents Tableau Packaged Workbook, in which the .twb file grouped together with the datasources. What are the types of filters in Tableau? Custom Filters ,Context Filters, Normal Filters. What is marks card in Tableau? A card to the left of the view where you can drag fields to control mark properties such as type, color, size, shape, label, tooltip, and detail. What are shelves in Tableau? They are Named areas to the left and top of the view. You build views by placing fields onto the shelves. Some shelves are available only when you select certain mark types. What is a Tableau workbook? It is a file with a .twb extension that contains one or more worksheets (and possibly also dashboards and stories). In Tableau what is a worksheet? A sheet where you build views of your data by dragging fields onto shelves. What is an alais in Tableau? An alternative name that you can assign to a field or to a dimension member. What is a context filter? In a context filter the filter condition is applied first to the data source and then some other filters are applied only to the resulting records. What is Dual Axis? You can compare multiple measures using dual axes, which are two independent axes that are layered on top of each other. What is a page shelf in Tableau? The Pages shelf is used to control the display of output by choosing the sequence of display. What are the possible reasons for slow performance in Tableau? More Extracts, filters and depends on data sources. What is table calculation in Tableau? These are inbuilt calculations in tableau which we normally use to calculate Percentange chages. What is data blending? Data blending is used to blend data from multiple data sources on a single worksheet. The data is joined on common dimensions. Can we have multiple value selection in parameter? No What is Connect live? It Creates a direct connect to the data source and speed up access. What is Import all data feature in Tableau? It Imports the entire data source into Tableau’s fast data engine as an extract and saves it in the workbook. What are parameters and when do you use it? Parameters are dynamic values that can replace constant values in calculations. What is TDE file in Tableau? It refers to the file that contains data extracted from external sources like MS Excel, MS Access or CSV file. What is a story in Tableau? A story is a sheet that contains a sequence of worksheets or dashboards that work together to convey information. What is a Published data source? It contains connection information that is independent of any workbook and can be used by multiple workbooks. What is a Embedded data source? It contains connection information and is associated with a workbook. when to use Joins versus Blending in Tableau? If data resides in a single source,we use Joins but when your data is not in one place blending is used. How to automate reports using Tableau software? You need to publish report to tableau server, while publishing you will find one option to schedule reports.You just need to select the time when you want to refresh data. what is Tableau Show me? Show Me is used to apply a required view to the existing data in

Tableau – Editing Metadata ”; Previous Next After connecting to the data source, Tableau captures the metadata details of the source like the columns and their data types. This is used to create the dimensions, measures, and calculated fields used in views. You can browse the metadata and change some of its properties for some specific requirements. Checking the Metadata After connecting to a data source, Tableau presents all possible tables and columns present in the source. Consider the source ‘Sample Coffee shop’ for checking the metadata. Click the Data menu and choose to connect to a data source. Browse for the MS access file named ‘Sample – Coffee shop’. Drag the table named Product to the data canvas. On choosing the file, you get the following screen which shows the column names, their data types. The string data types are shown as Abc and Numeric data types are shown as #. Changing the Data Type You can change the datatype of some of the fields if required. Depending on the nature of source data, sometimes Tableau may fail to recognize the data type from the source. In such scenarios, we can manually edit the data type. The following screenshot shows the option. Renaming and Hiding The column names can be changed by using the renaming option. You can also hide a column so that it does not appear in the data view that you create. These options are available by clicking on the data type icon in the metadata grid as shown in the following screenshot. Column Alias Each column of the data source can be assigned an alias which helps better understand the nature of the column. You can choose the aliases option from the above step and the following screen comes up which is used to create or edit aliases. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Quick Guide ”; Previous Next Tableau – Overview As a leading data visualization tool, Tableau has many desirable and unique features. Its powerful data discovery and exploration application allows you to answer important questions in seconds. You can use Tableau”s drag and drop interface to visualize any data, explore different views, and even combine multiple databases easily. It does not require any complex scripting. Anyone who understands the business problems can address it with a visualization of the relevant data. After analysis, sharing with others is as easy as publishing to Tableau Server. Tableau Features Tableau provides solutions for all kinds of industries, departments, and data environments. Following are some unique features which enable Tableau to handle diverse scenarios. Speed of Analysis − As it does not require high level of programming expertise, any user with access to data can start using it to derive value from the data. Self-Reliant − Tableau does not need a complex software setup. The desktop version which is used by most users is easily installed and contains all the features needed to start and complete data analysis. Visual Discovery − The user explores and analyzes the data by using visual tools like colors, trend lines, charts, and graphs. There is very little script to be written as nearly everything is done by drag and drop. Blend Diverse Data Sets − Tableau allows you to blend different relational, semistructured and raw data sources in real time, without expensive up-front integration costs. The users don’t need to know the details of how data is stored. Architecture Agnostic − Tableau works in all kinds of devices where data flows. Hence, the user need not worry about specific hardware or software requirements to use Tableau. Real-Time Collaboration − Tableau can filter, sort, and discuss data on the fly and embed a live dashboard in portals like SharePoint site or Salesforce. You can save your view of data and allow colleagues to subscribe to your interactive dashboards so they see the very latest data just by refreshing their web browser. Centralized Data − Tableau server provides a centralized location to manage all of the organization’s published data sources. You can delete, change permissions, add tags, and manage schedules in one convenient location. It’s easy to schedule extract refreshes and manage them in the data server. Administrators can centrally define a schedule for extracts on the server for both incremental and full refreshes. Tableau – Environment Setup In this chapter, you will learn about the environment setup of Tableau. Download Tableau Desktop The Free Personal Edition of Tableau Desktop can be downloaded from Tableau Desktop. You need to register with your details to be able to download. After downloading, the installation is a very straightforward process in which you need to accept the license agreement and provide the target folder for installation. The following steps and screenshots describe the entire setup process. Start the Installation Wizard Double-click the TableauDesktop-64bit-9-2-2.exe. It will present a screen to allow the installation program to run. Click “Run”. Accept the License Agreement Read the license agreement and if you agree, choose the “I have read and accept the terms of this license agreement” option. Then, click “Install”. Start Trial On completion of the installation, the screen prompts you with the option to Start the trial now or later. You may choose to start it now. Also, if you have purchased Tableau then you may enter the License key. Provide Your Details Provide your name and organization details. Then, click “Next”. Registration Complete The registration completion screen appears. Click “Continue”. Verify the Installation You can verify the installation by going to the Windows start menu. Click the Tableau icon. The following screen appears. You are now ready to learn Tableau. Tableau – Get Started In this chapter, you will learn some basic operations in Tableau to get acquainted with its interface. There are three basic steps involved in creating any Tableau data analysis report. These three steps are − Connect to a data source − It involves locating the data and using an appropriate type of connection to read the data. Choose dimensions and measures − This involves selecting the required columns from the source data for analysis. Apply visualization technique − This involves applying required visualization methods, such as a specific chart or graph type to the data being analyzed. For convenience, let’s use the sample data set that comes with Tableau installation named sample – superstore.xls. Locate the installation folder of Tableau and go to My Tableau Repository. Under it, you will find the above file at Datasources9.2en_US-US. Connect to a Data Source On opening Tableau, you will get the start page showing various data sources. Under the header “Connect”, you have options to choose a file or server or saved data source. Under Files, choose excel. Then navigate to the file “Sample – Superstore.xls” as mentioned above. The excel file has three sheets named Orders, People and Returns. Choose Orders. Choose the Dimensions and Measures Next, choose the data to be analyzed by deciding on the dimensions and measures. Dimensions are the descriptive data while measures are numeric data. When put together, they help visualize the performance of the dimensional data with respect to the data which are measures. Choose Category and Region as the dimensions and Sales as the measure. Drag and drop them as shown in the following screenshot. The result shows the total sales in each category for each region. Apply Visualization Technique In the previous step, you can see that the data is available only as numbers. You have to read and calculate each of the values to judge the performance. However, you can see them as graphs or charts with different colors to make a quicker judgment. We drag and drop the sum (sales) column from the Marks tab to the Columns shelf. The table showing the numeric values of sales now turns into a bar chart automatically. You can apply a

Tableau – Trend Lines ”; Previous Next Trend lines are used to predict the continuation of a certain trend of a variable. It also helps to identify the correlation between two variables by observing the trend in both of them simultaneously. There are many mathematical models for establishing trend lines. Tableau provides four options. They are Linear, Logarithmic, Exponential, and Polynomial. In this chapter, only the linear model is discussed. Tableau takes a time dimension and a measure field to create a Trend Line. Creating a Trend Line Using the Sample-superstore, find the trend for the value of the measure sales for next year. To achieve this objective, following are the steps. Step 1 − Drag the dimension Order date to the Column shelf and the measure Sales to the Rows shelf. Choose the chart type as Line chart. In the Analysis menu, go to model → Trend Line. Clicking on Trend Line pops up an option showing different types of trend lines that can be added. Choose the linear model as shown in the following screenshot. Step 2 − On completion of the above step, you will get various trend lines. It also shows the mathematical expression for the correlation between the fields, the P-Value and the R-Squared value. Describe the Trend Line Right-click on the chart and select the option Describe Trend Line to get a detailed description of the Trend Line chart. It shows the coefficients, intercept value, and the equation. These details can also be copied to the clipboard and used in further analysis. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Histogram ”; Previous Next A histogram represents the frequencies of values of a variable bucketed into ranges. Histogram is similar to bar chart but it groups the values into continuous ranges. Each bar in histogram represents the height of the number of values present in that range. Tableau creates a histogram by taking one measure. It creates an additional bin field for the measure used in creating a histogram. Creating a Histogram Using the Sample-superstore, plan to find the quantities of sales for different regions. To achieve this, drag the Measure named Quantity to the Rows shelf. Then open Show Me and select the Histogram chart. The following diagram shows the chart created. It shows the quantities automatically bucketed into values ranging from 0 to 4811 and divided into 12 bins. Creating a Histogram with Dimension You can also add Dimensions to Measures to create histograms. This will create a stacked histogram. Each bar will have stacks representing the values of the dimension. Following the steps of the above example, add the Region Dimension to the color Shelf under Marks Card. This creates the following histogram where each bar also includes the visualization for different regions. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Waterfall Charts ”; Previous Next Waterfall charts effectively display the cumulative effect of sequential positive and negative values. It shows where a value starts, ends and how it gets there incrementally. So, we are able to see both the size of changes and difference in values between consecutive data points. Tableau needs one Dimension and one Measure to create a Waterfall chart. Creating a Waterfall Chart Using the Sample-superstore, plan to find the variation of Sales for each Sub-Category of Products. To achieve this objective, following are the steps. Step 1 − Drag the Dimension Sub-Category to the Columns shelf and the Measure Sales to the Rows shelf. Sort the data in an ascending order of sales value. For this, use the sort option appearing in the middle of the vertical axis when you hover the mouse over it. The following chart appears on completing this step. Step 2 − Next, right-click on the SUM (Sales) value and select the running total from the table calculation option. Change the chart type to Gantt Bar. The following chart appears. Step 3 − Create a calculated field named -sales and mention the following formula for its value. Step 4 − Drag the newly created calculated field (-sales) to the size shelf under Marks Card. The chart above now changes to produce the following chart which is a Waterfall chart. Waterfall Chart with Color Next, give different color shades to the bars in the chart by dragging the Sales measure to the Color shelf under the Marks Card. You get the following waterfall chart with color. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Table Calculations ”; Previous Next These are the calculations which are applied to the values in the entire table. For example, for calculating a running total or running average, we need to apply a single method of calculation to an entire column. Such calculations cannot be performed on some selected rows. Table has a feature called Quick Table Calculation, which is used to create such calculations. The steps to be applied in Quick Table calculation are as follows − Step 1 − Select the measure on which the table calculation has to be applied and drag it to column shelf. Step 2 − Right-click the measure and choose the option Quick Table Calculation. Step 3 − Choose one of the following options to be applied on the measure. Running Total Difference Percent Difference Percent of Total Rank Percentile Moving Average Year to Date (YTD) Total Compound Growth Rate Year over Year Growth Year to Date (YTD) Growth Example Let’s calculate the running total of the profits earned for the data source following the above steps. Use the data source named sample – superstore.xls. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Tableau – Useful Resources ”; Previous Next The following resources contain additional information on Tableau. Please use them to get more in-depth knowledge on this topic. Useful Video Courses Tableau Online Training Course Most Popular 89 Lectures 10 hours Tutorialspoint More Detail Tableau Hands-On Course: Data Visualization With Tableau Most Popular 46 Lectures 5.5 hours TELCOMA Global More Detail Tableau A-Z: Hands-On Tableau Training Featured 32 Lectures 6.5 hours Satyajit Pattnaik More Detail Tableau Data Visualization: Step by Step Guide 64 Lectures 7 hours Techquest Hub More Detail Tableau Basics for Beginners 39 Lectures 5 hours Rushabh Jain More Detail Tableau 101 17 Lectures 47 mins Esha Prakash More Detail Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;